About Me

Born in the late 60's, Chesy hails from a Welsh mining village with a long name and was pretty glad when he got the Hell out of there. He got into Rock/Metal in about 1980, thanks to a TISWAS related incident (Rainbow video for All Night Long) and thankfully has never looked back.
Chesy often sang solo in the school choir, but thanks to a puberty related incident his voice is now completely bolloxed, although in his own head Paul thinks he sounds like a blend of Coverdale and Dio (R.I.P).
He was brought up on the classics - Deep Purple, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy, Rush, Whitesnake and loved melodic rock and the Hair Bands of the 80's. (Nowadays, he has progressed a little and prefers a more technical and/or progressive metal - Dream Theater, Rush, Symphony X, Porcupine Tree, Pain Of Salvation, Spock's Beard. He hates Black and Death Metal (can't stand the grunting) but for some unknown reason loves the magnificent Opeth! He wont stop this blog until his beloved FM finally play the likes of the NEC as a headlining act!!!

Wednesday, 10 September 2014

Moments
come along every now and again when you are completely taken aback by a bands
performance. The occasion was at Parr Hall Warrington about 18months ago,
whereby the then unknown to me, V&TA took to the stage and completely blew
me away within the first minute. I knew for certain that I was watching someone
special, very special indeed. Albums don’t do bands justice on many an
occasion, none more so that the debut, vs the live performance I caught that
night....

....and the
even more annoying thing? That they were kids when it was recorded. Damn you,
you talented set of buggers!

VATA are
Virgil McMahon, the guitarist/vocalist and driving force behind the band. A
talent from a very young age who joined his dads band ‘The Accelerators’. Such
was his talent that his dad and fellow band member Hugh Morgan had the
foresight to get Virgil to form a band with people his own age. So Virgil and
the Accelerators was born. In came his brother Gabriel on drums. With no
previous experience he quickly showed signs of massive potential. Bass players
are a hard bunch to find. Jack Alexander Timmis is the man they have settled in
on bass duties

There’s
always doubts if bands can get over the ‘2nd album syndrome’. To
help them overcome this they went for a man with aeons of experience behind the
desk, Chris Tsangarides (Lizzy / Moore / Sabbath / Priest / Anvil etc).

Army of
Three is aptly named. Not only because of them being a rather fine cohesive
unit, but also because they sound as if it’s the aural equivalent of being
pounded by a battalion.

Why
start off subtly when you can go for the jugular. This is exactly the premise
for opening track 'Take Me Higher', an epic six minute blues rocker that just
flies by. The maturity and progression from 'The Radium' has come on leaps and
bounds. The paying from all three feels like its double the size, and couple
this with the feel, emotion and vocalising that belie someone so young, then
its bodes well for the rest of the album, and the future of VATA. Whilst the
musical aspect of ‘Blow To The Head’ is killer, the same cant be said of the
singing. I don’t know if it’s the chorus or production making it sounding a
little weak. ‘All Night Long’ puts the VATA machine back on track – its more of
a simple rocker than the usual VATA fare and when you think its all done and
dusted, it comes back to life again. After the ‘meh!’ of Love Agression comes
the surefire future single ‘Give It Up’ a Rolling Stones style complemented
with some good harmonica playing. The latter half of the album is a strong one
with the groove led ‘It Burns’, the ‘classic’ rocker sounding ‘Stand Up’, and
finish on a strong un’, the southern
rock tinged ‘Free’ which will be a surefire hit when played live.

Is a
great year for lovers of classic rock what with California Breed, Rival Sons,
the excellent Blues Pills, and this. VATA firmly sit in good company

I cant’
wait to see them on tour in October. I strongly suggest you do the same!

Sunday, 7 September 2014

Room Experience is the name of a brand new high profile project, born from the artistic partnership between keyboardist and songwriter Gianluca Firmo (from Brescia, Italy) and the production team composed by Davide "Dave Rox" Barbieri (Wheels Of Fire, Charming Grace) and Pierpaolo "Zorro11" Monti (Shining Line, Charming Grace, Lionville).

The
debut album is currently being recorded in Italy under the production's
oversight of duo Barbieri/Monti, while mix and mastering duties will be
handled by star producer of the moment, Alessandro Del Vecchio (Hardline, Edge Of Forever, Rated X, Shining Line), at his Ivorytears Music Studio in Somma Lombardo (Va, Italy).

Firmo's
songwriting skills are going to offer an exciting journey through a
wide range of melodic rock styles, with influences coming from classic
AOR to more up-to-date melodic hard-rock. With such a rich variety of
styles to face, a powerhouse and versatile vocalist was needed in order
to carry songs to completion, so UK's extraordinary singer David Readman (Pink Cream 69, Voodoo Circle) was
officially approached to perform all the songs of the project.

The
album is scheduled for a release in early 2015 on label tba. Further
details regarding additional guests involved and more infos about the
project will follow in the next weeks.

Automatically the word ‘featuring’
indicates that the person is of significant importance. Well up until the
Frontiers Festival I’d never heard of Lenna Kuurmaa. To be honest, given the
lackluster / limp / boring (delete as appropriate) performance on Day 2 of the
aforementioned (but excellent) Festival, I thought that Moon Land featuring
Lenna Kuurmaa (Jesus, I’m already fed up of typing this title) deserve a second
chance as the circumstances leading to their performance, which seemed like a
complete lack of preparation, did them no favours whatsoever.

Apparently Estonian Kuurmaa is a 360-degree
performer - singer, actress and TV personality. Lenna has been the front-woman
of the Pop-Rock outfit VANILLA NINJA, an all-female outfit, which debuted in
2002 with their self-titled album and went on to release internationally
another 3 successful studio albums (which won Gold Records awards in Germany,
Austria and Platinum in their home country, Estonia). In 2005 VANILLA NINJA
also won the selection to represent Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Festival
with the song "Cool Vibes", ending at the 8th place.

VANILLA NINJA however went into hiatus and the
members started to get involved in different projects. Lenna Kuurmaa appeared
as an actress and TV presenter in Estonia and started a musical solo project
under her own name, until she was approached by Frontiers Records with a
concept to be return with a new international release with songs tailored for
her singing style, with musical influences ranging from Heart and Europe with a
touch of Roxette. Frontiers ‘go-to’ guy, the diminutive but most excellent
singer / songwriter / keyboardist/ producer Alessandro Del Vecchio taking care
of the production duties.

‘Heaven Is To Be Close To You’ starts off the album
in good fashion, but fails to build on its early momentum. ‘Open Your Heart’
sees Kuurmaa trying to get all Roxette on us. If Waitrose is the musical
equivalent of Roxette, then Kuurmaa is the Asda version. It’s an analogy wasted
on a Euro audience, but you can find your own meaning. Basically it’s a poor
mans Roxette, OK! ‘Crime Of Love’ and ‘Poison Angel’ tries to get back on track
but are missing a spark to make them stand out from a competitive melodic rock
genre

Without being repetitive, the remaining songs on
the album basically follow suit. It’s the kind of inoffensive record that the
likes of my wife would like – listenable, but not critical. Ideal as a background
setting, but nothing else.

To be fair, MFLK has enough going for it to be
given a second outing. Whether or not a certain head honcho at Frontiers allows
this to happen remains to be seen. On the evidence of this debut, Kuurmaa
deserves to be given a second chance, as her voice is the highlight of what is
a lackluster album.

Back in May at the inaugural Frontiers
Festival in Milan, Adrenaline Rush, and TåveWanning in particular
certainly made a great first impression. A young, and very good looking girl
with a decent voice surrounded by some young and hungry guys pulling the
strings. Its a decent match for both parties that is, as a whole, Adrenaline
Rush

This debut album was recorded and written under the direction of producer Erik
Mårtensson (Eclipse, W.E.T). The production sounds thoroughly modern yet keeps
the spirit of the 1980´s alive, with the record likely to appeal to fans of
bands such as Danger Danger, Vixen, Dokken, Warrant, Treat etc

“We want to entertain and be the soundtrack of the party - it’s all about
foot-stomping, head-banging tracks that make you want to get up and dance and
drive your car much too fast. My favourite track other than the single ‘Change’
is ‘Playin’ to Win’, it always gets me in a good mood. Making this record with
Erik was a wild ride and I hope you will ENJOY THE RUSH!” – Tåve.

Frontiers / Adrenaline Rush certainly selected the correct song to pick as
first choice for a single as its the stand out song on the debut album. A fast
paced, energetic and frenetic number which ticks the right boxes - decent riff
and a great chorus. Hot on the heels of the quality of 'Change is opener “Black
and Blue” a modern day anthem with great structure and layered vocals adding to
the experience for the listener. After Generation Left Behind the quality from
here on in waivers a little; and songs like ‘Girls Gone Wild’, ‘Hit You Like A
Rock’, and ‘Want It All’ are easily forgotten. ‘Oh Yeah’ definitely takes more
than a passing resemblance to Leppard circa Hysteria era, and ‘Playing To Win’
has a folky, Thin Lizzy vibe to it.

I get the feeling that a fair few of the
song titles are coming from the "iSpy bumper book of rock cliches /random
title generator". Now theres nothing wrong with this as, lets face it, its
hard not to replicate something from the past that hasn’t already been written.
Take some examples from the afore mentioned iSpy book (Vol 5 Scandi edition) –
‘Generation Left Behind’, ‘Want It All’, ‘Too Young To Die’ and ‘Hit You Like A
Rock.’

I have great admiration for a set of young guns that not only want to play, but
are influenced by bands like Dokken, White Lion, Danger Danger from the 80s,
especially as there are other and lets face it, probably easier ways of making
your way in the music industry

Despite the hit and miss nature of their
debut, theres a lot of to look forward to in the future and makes for a
promising debut

Thursday, 4 September 2014

Me old mate, buddy, pal, Larry The Loafer,
sorry Rob ‘fluffy’ Evans, he of Powerplay’s ‘whats brite and whats shite’
column, Classic Rock AOR mag and any other that has a melodic rock column
(watch out for his newest in Womans Weekly soon!), has been banging on to
anyone for yonks who will listen that the revitalized AOK as was, (now Angels
or Kings) have a stonking set of songs to release. Well he is not without
reason.

I remember seeing AOK in the Tiv Buckley in
the early 90s (it feels like a shit load of years ago anyway), and they
absolutely stormed the place on more than one occasion. Many bands have trod
the ‘we should have been an AOR contender’ floorboards in the mid 80s-early
90s, and unfortunately AOK were one such beast. As the promo note states ‘we’ve
got something on the go, but we’re lazy and need a kick up the arse’.
Thankfully that boot seemed to be on the end of the foot of new vocalist Barrie
Jackson. With a name more Wheeltappers than Madison Square Garden, he (Jackson)
proves to be Angels or Kings missing link, and not in an Abe Sapien way either. Joking
aside, Jackson has a voice that’ll have grown men crying into their Top Deck
Shandy’s, or whatever else the discerning AOR crowd drink in the 21st
Century

Angel or Kings album has more polish than a
Brasso and Mr.Sheene factory combined. A fault with many of the modern melodic
rock bands is writing to a formula, and they try to make every song an anthem.
Theres’ nowt wrong with this, but AOK are old school and their craft comes from
a time when some of the greats put great time and effort into their writing.
Think of some of your favourite melodic rock bands – Journey, Giant, & Giuffria
from the past and the newer age such as HEAT, Vega, Eclipse; well Angels or Kings ride this
AOR train hot on the coat tails of these luminaries past and present.

‘Any Other Girl’ is a song that just slaps
you around the face and deserves to be heard. After just one listen I guarantee
that you’ll be humming and singing into your hairbrush (if you still have hair)
along with Barrie, making 5 part harmonies, and begging for more. Well…'Kings of
Nowhere' doesn’t disappoint, ‘Ice Turned To Rain’ is a song that would be a huge
in in 80s FM Radio America. Come to think of it, the last time I was there,
they still think its 1988. ‘Real Life’ is the type of song the likes of FM
tried to write in the early 90s – it’s a blood and guts, fire and brimstone
epic number. ‘Same Star’ is the type of song that 5 northern lads shouldn’t be
capable of writing, it just oozes class. Halfway through and I just feel as if
I have have run out of superlatives to describe this crackin’ slab of
lovliness!

‘Left In Love’ has yet another singalong
chorus and again keeps the Angels or Kings momentum up high. Keyboards feature
high on the “AoK Jonathan Cain scale” and they definitely add to the quality, with
‘Another Lost Boy’ being a prime example. ‘If Her Tears Could Talk’ and ‘Kings
Of Nowhere’ keep the album strong right to the bitter end.

There’s nothing to criticize here, only to
enjoy. Jackson proves he’s a mighty fine singer, and is given a belting set of
songs to prove his worth. If you love melodic rock and love well crafted little
nuggets of gold then look no further than ‘Kings of Nowhere’. Best AOR album of
2014 bar none. Fuck! I’m almost tempted to offer a money back guarantee myself,
I’m that convinced you’ll love it. If you don’t then you’re completely deaf!
They will storm Firefest….

Superb songs, excellent production, and an
album that sits firmly amongst the best AOR albums this side of 1985

P.S. if you have two and a half grand spare
you can buy Tony’s book, ‘Life In The Bus Lane’ from Amazon. For that price I
think he will not only deliver it but read it every night to you whilst spoon
feeding you caviar and champagne. That aside It’s a great read! -